Windstream gets $28.7M to expand rural Iowa broadband

Windstream Communications has been granted $175 million annually in federal funding to bring broadband services to more than 400,000 rural households across 17 states over the next seven years.

In all, the company will be able to serve more than 64,000 rural Arkansas customers with broadband service, the FCC said. The money will come from a program that provides aid in extending service into areas that would otherwise not have access to high-speed internet. The Windstream service will be made available to residents living primarily in Southern states along with a few in the MidWest.

Windstream Communications has accepted a federal fund to expand broadband into rural areas.

“Windstream is committed to providing robust and reliable voice and broadband services to our customers”, Tony Thomas, Windstream’s president and CEO said in a statement.

The Connect America Fund is meant to help provide financial support for telecommunications companies to expand Internet service in rural parts of the U.S.

Carriers receiving support from the Connect America Fund must expand broadband to 40 percent of funded locations by the end 2017, 60 percent by the end of 2018 and 100 percent by the end of 2020. “The Connect America Fund is delivering on its promise of ensuring that all Americans have access to the opportunities provided by modern broadband service, no matter where they live”.

The funding includes about $1.2 million each for Windstream operations in Harrison County and Tama County and about $1.1 million in Lee County.